Top 5 Cheap Ways to Get to Europe Using Miles and Points!

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It’s the time of year when folks are planning their summer trips to Europe. Sometimes low-level award seats can be hard to find because it’s such a popular place to go!

So it’s good to have options for the cheapest ways to get there using miles and points!

Here are my favorite cheap award tickets to Europe. If you don’t mind flying coach class, you could get there for as few as 25,000 miles round-trip!

Planning a Summer Getaway to Europe? I’ll Show You the Cheapest Ways to Get There!

And remember, you don’t have to fly there and back on the same airline.

Sometimes you’ll get a better deal (and more available award seats) by booking 1-way flights on different airlines. Or you might mix-and-match because you don’t have enough points in 1 program for a round-trip ticket.

Top 5 Cheap Ways to Get to Europe Using Miles and Points

This isn’t a ranking! Depending on whether you want to conserve miles and points, or save money, each of these programs is cheap in their own way.

And the location of your home airport is also a factor, so always do the math to see what works best for your situation.

1. American Airlines Miles

I like using American Airlines miles to get to Europe because their taxes and fees are often lower than other airlines. And if you can travel at off-peak times (like spring and fall), you’ll pay fewer miles!

But you’ll pay hefty fuel surcharges for award tickets on British Airways, so that’s NOT a good deal.

You Could Use American Airlines Miles to Fly to Spain on Iberia, and Take Part in La Tomatina, an Epic Tomato Fight Held Each August

Whether you’re flying on American Airlines or 1 of their partners, you’ll pay 60,000 miles round-trip for a coach class flight between the US and Europe. But if you’re able to travel at off-peak times (October 15 to May 15), it only costs 40,000 miles round-trip.

Off-Peak Award Tickets to Europe Only Cost 40,000 American Airlines Miles (and Low Fees, Except for British Airways Flights)

That’s a great deal if you can plan a spring or fall getaway! But even if you’re traveling at peak times, it’s still a good deal because of the low taxes and fees compared to some other airlines.

How to Earn American Airlines Miles

You can’t transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership rewards points to American Airlines. But you cantransfer Starwood Preferred Guest points (and earn a 5,000 mile bonus when you transfer 20,000 points).

2. British Airways Avios Points

British Airways Avios points can be a great way to get to Europe cheaply for folks who live on the East coast. That’s because British Airways uses a distance-based award chart, so areas closer to Europe cost fewer points!

British Airways adds big fuel surcharges to their own award tickets, and to tickets on some of their partners. That’s NOT Big Travel with Small Money!

Note: You can’t search for Aer Lingus award seats on the British Airways website. You could use ExpertFlyer, or call British Airways at 800-452-1201 to check for available seats. And you’ll have to book over the phone (but ask nicely and they might waive the $25 phone booking fee!).

Note: British Airways is in the process of buying Aer Lingus. I’m not sure what impact this will have in the future, but for now this is still a good way to get to Dublin for fewer miles.

Air Berlin

Air Berlin is another good use of British Airways Avios points to fly to Europe. You’ll pay taxes and fees on the ticket, but the price is minimal compared to award flights on British Airways!

It Costs 40,000 Avios Points and $96 for a Round-Trip Coach Class Ticket Between New York and Dusseldorf on Air Berlin

Again, because Avios is distance-based, you’ll pay fewer miles from the East coast than from other US destinations. For example, Chicago to Berlin costs 50,000 miles round-trip plus $94 in coach class.

You’ll Need More Miles to Fly From Chicago, but It’s Still a Good Deal

Remember, if you want to fly beyond Ireland or Germany using Avios points, you can book relatively inexpensive short-haul European flights. British Airways still adds fuel surcharges to these flights, but they’re much lower than other destinations.

Or you could buy a cheap paid ticket on a discount airline like Ryanair. Or consider taking the train!

For example, a coach class award ticket between the US and Europe normally costs 50,000 miles round-trip. But when Flying Blue discounts their coach class tickets by 50%, you’ll only pay 25,000 miles round trip.

You Could Go Just About Anywhere in Europe, Like Portugal, With Discounted Flying Blue Promo Awards

That said, you’ll also pay taxes and fees which vary depending on destination (usually under ~$200 each way, sometimes even less).

And you don’t have to end your journey in Paris or Amsterdam (the European cities served directly from the US by Air France and KLM). For the same number of miles, you can connect onward to other European cities.

And Flying Blue’s definition of Europe includes Western Russia, Israel, and cities in Northern Africa. So you could stretch your points even farther.

4. Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines might not be the 1st airline that comes to mind when you think about flights between the US and Europe. They’re a Star Alliance member, but add fuel surcharges to both their own and most partner award tickets.

But many folks don’t know you can book Singapore Airlines award flights between New York and Frankfurt for only 17,000 miles (plus taxes and fees) in coach class each way! The price on the award chart is actually 20,000 miles 1-way, but you get a 15% discount when you book your ticket online.

The same applies to award flights between Houston and Moscow.

You Can Fly the Singapore Airlines A380 Between New York and Frankfurt for Fewer Miles, but You’ll Pay Fuel Surcharges

If you’re trying to make your miles last, this could be a good way to get to Europe. As long as you don’t mind the fuel surcharges.

It Costs 17,000 Miles Plus ~$202 in Fees From New York to Frankfurt 1-Way

5. United Airlines Miles

The good thing about United Airlines is that they do NOT add fuel surcharges to award tickets! And because they have so many European Star Alliance partners, you’ve got lots of flight options.

For example, you’ll pay 30,000 miles and ~$6 for a 1-way, coach ticket from New York to Frankfurt on Lufthansa using United Airlines miles. The return trip is the same number of miles, but the fees are higher (~$111).

Bottom Line

If you’re planning travel to Europe this summer, it’s good to have lots of choices when you book award tickets.

And depending on the airline you choose, you could get there for fewer miles and points, or lower fuel surcharges.

I’ve listed my favorite deals for cheaper travel to Europe. But I’d love to hear your ideas! What’s your favorite way to get to Europe using miles and points?

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20 responses to “Top 5 Cheap Ways to Get to Europe Using Miles and Points!”

Any suggestions on searching for American flights? I’m trying to find a friend get flights to Rome. She only has American miles. I’m in the Northeast and have a number of airports to chose from (Philly, Newark, JFK, LaGuardia) and I’m looking for flights to Rome in Oct, low season. But the ONLY flights I can find seem to be British Airways with their sky high fees. I’m searching on AA.com and it’s not pulling Air Berlin flights, Iberia, nothing but British Airways. There don’t even seem to be any American or US Airways flights which seems suspect to me. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks to the discounted United awards right now, partner flights in business are only marginally more than they used to be – 57,500 miles each way instead of 50,000 miles.
Also, for anyone that has accrued Aegean miles while getting Star Alliance Gold, they are only 45k miles one way in business to Europe (which includes Israel) and that is on Star Alliance partners or US Airways.

Great post! We are going to Italy this summer using United Miles out and American miles back. It was super easy, cost under $200 total in taxes, and allowed us to fly into Milan and out of Venice. While we had to pay for our hotels in Bellagio and Cinque Terre, we will be staying for free in Venice at the brand new JW Marriott. I can’t wait to check it out!

This is only marginally on-topic, but late last month I finally got to experience Suites class on Singapore’s A380 on SQ 11 from L.A. to Singapore via Tokyo. It was everything I’d imagined and then some, simply amazing in every way. Spacious & oh so private, with stellar service from the moment I checked in, as well as plentiful delicious food (I used their “Book the Cook” and the Lobster Thermidor was divine, and the Japanese meal I had on the segment out of Tokyo was wonderful too). Had both the 2004 Dom Perignon and Krug Grand Cuvee, as well as Macallan single malt Scotch and Johnny Walker Blue Label (I’m definitely a fan of Scotch) and an excellent 20 year aged Duoro port wine.

Oh, and I slept like a baby for once in that separate flat bed. It made all the difference in the world: 13 time zones’ difference, yet my body was on Singapore pretty much from the moment I arrived, and definitely was 100% by the day after. I think I’m spoiled forever on flying coach. For anybody aspiring to do this, Chase UR and Citi TY as well as AmEx MR transfers (and SPG, too, I think) make it easy to come up with the KrisFlyer miles needed (and I absolutely LOVE that 15% online discount they offer, SO generous!). I could never have done this without the miles & points hobby. So a HUGE thank you to MMS 🙂

Every year I see these type of post… “Here is how to get to Europe on Miles” Every Year I try… So Far I have not found anything worth wile… All the Airline Sites hide availability, and make it almost impossible to use miles to book award tickets. So Frustrated in fact, I have decided to quit collecting Airline Miles… they are not worth the trouble.

Any ideas on lowest FF miles needed to fly from Seattle to Paris or Venice ?
Or Seattle to anywhere on the continent Europe. We can take a train once in Europe but need to go this May for a full month. Coach class. Would love to fly first class once in my life but probably won’t as I’m now a senior citizen and want to use all my miles for as many trips as possible

^Super Frustrated. I’m not sure why you are having so much trouble. I booked a united airlines flight out of Miami to Rome and Venice back to Miami for 60k points and $98.10 for the week of Memorial Day. I did the same thing last year for the same week to Dublin out of Ft. Lauderdale. I cant vouch for the other airlines mentioned but United seems to make their saver fares regularly available. Don’t give up. You just need to be persistent.

I found that to fly with points during the summer you have to start looking the previous year when they are first posted. Next look for hubs where there are lots of direct flights like CLT, LGA, ATL or EWR. You can use BA and they will tell you how many seats are available where AA/ USAir doesn’t. Use you miles on SWA to get you to the hubs. Also you will be better off using Easyjet or Vueling between major Europe cities for about the same price as Ryanair, so also check them.
The euro is cheaper than ever and is a good time to travel there!

Greetings! I am new to all the credit card/airline flight rewards stuff. I am wanting to fly from Chicago to Dublin mid-September and am wondering what my smartest flight options/decisions would be, with my rewards being from Capital One Venture CC. Thx!

Trying to figure out the best way to get from Seattle > Dublin > Italy (we are interested in seeing Rome, Florence, Venice this trip and can be flexible in which we fly into, and out of) and back up to Paris for the last few days of the trip. Brother & I will fly into Dublin and then to Italy and husband will meet in Italy, tour around a few days, and spend the last 2 days in Paris.

Are there any airlines that fly into any of these Italian cities that might stopover in Dublin? Crazy I know but just trying to shell out the least $$$ on airfare and see the places we want to see.

Ideally, I would like to pay cash for my ticket and use Alaska miles for brothers ticket.

Does FlyingBlue allow stopovers?
I fly to Greece every year and have now been four
years in a row with miles!! I have AmEx rewards
points to transfer before canceling the Platinum
card and KLM looks like my best choice.
Thank you!!

What am I missing??? I’ve been looking AA one way MAD-LAX one way on May 14. There’s availability but it’s 30k miles for Econ MilesSAAver! Even a month prior to that it’s still 30k. It’s 20k on Iberia with Avios.

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